Of My Own Accord
by swirling-dimension
Summary: Sure, being the son of two of the most famous super heroes the world has ever known has it's perks, but sometimes Peter wishes that he could have more time with his dads without the disruption of world-wide chaos. Starting to believe himself not good enough, not even his friends can help him. No one understands what he's going through. All except for Loki.
1. Chapter 1

One would think that after years of being awoken out of a deep slumber by a high-pitched buzz, you'd be used to it. I really envy those who are, though I still doubt their very existence. How can someone be that heavy of a sleeper? I've heard of people, who can still hear that ear-busting sound from within their dreams like its part of the background, and then they gradually awake; casually turning off their alarm clock like it's no big deal. For me, I'll be in a deep sleep, and slowly start coming to, then I get to that point where it feels like you're floating in-between sleep and being awake. It feels all so surreal. Then it's completely ruined by the reminder that you have so much time to get ready for the day.

After another ten minutes of moving around on my bed; cracking every joint and stretching compressed limbs, I slowly make my way upright. Leaning down I glare drowsily at the destruction of my thirtieth alarm clock. Head turning back forward makes me engage in another drastic yawning session. Getting up and nearly tripping on old clothes that have just been carelessly tossed aside, I finally make my way around my room to gather fresh, new ones for the day. Sometimes it feels like I get enough exercise just by running around here.

I hear other kids at school who complain that their rooms are so small that they only have a few feet of walking space, and nowhere new to put all their belongings. Maybe it's just me, but I really envy them. I don't mind small spaces, and find them much more comfortable than enlarged areas. Seriously now, my room is the size of Aunt May's living room! For some reason, I just find myself intimidated by large and open spaces. Call it whatever you will – paranoia or agoraphobia. Personally, I think it just has to do with my new powers affecting my body.

It has been approximately five months since I became The Spider-man. The only person who knows is my girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. Not even my parents know. Hadn't gotten the courage to break it to them yet. I'm more afraid than anything that they'll restrict my privileges even more, and not let me help out with the crime fighting. As far as I'm concern, what I do is petty compared to them fighting off Gods from different planets, and various mutants and science experiments. I am aware of the risk of me getting either shot or stabbed, but seeing as how both of them are exploited on the news every single day getting dealt with much more dangerous weaponry and powers, I don't think that they can really complain. They will anyway, because they're my parents. It's just what they do.

Breaking out of my thoughts, I realize that I've just stepped out of the shower that I don't even remember entering. Lately, I've been finding myself daydreaming more often than I should. It's starting to have a negative effect on my participation during school, but not so much the grades. Doing the homework and tests are easy; it's the paying attention bit that teachers look out for the most. Speaking of which, what better way to stay alert than scoping out every error that is screaming at you from the look-alike from behind the mirror?

A short statured fifteen year old with a slightly rounded face covered in freckles observes in return. My ski slope of a nose makes my lips stand out. Oddly enough my many freckles accentuate my brown eyes. At least, that's what pops says. Dad thinks that all the distraction goes to my elephant ears that stick out like a sore thumb. He did assure me that it wasn't as bad as having huge caterpillar eyebrows taking up half your face. Feeling pleased with that bit of information, I give myself a smug smile and nod approvingly at the fellow on the other side. After my short round of narcissism, I quickly brush through my short brown hair which is the perfect length to have dad and pops rub my head. I melt like butter every time that they do, and they know that it drives me crazy. Slapped a small amount of gel in my hair, washed my hands and grabbed all my items for school.

I could hear my folks talking with each other as I descended down the stairway to the living quarters of Stark Tower. Noise was always a good thing when entering any part of the building with them in it. Otherwise, they're either making out or even… GOD NO. Do not want! It wouldn't be as bad if I were say, five years old, but walking in at age fifteen to your parents on the kitchen table naked? Yeah, I didn't eat off of that table or in the dining room until they completely shampooed and bleached everything. Even then, I wouldn't eat off the table! They had to replace it with a new one.

"Morning there, sport!" Pops acknowledged my presence as I walked into the dining room.

"Morning pops, morning dad."

Dad's welcome was barely audible; being fixated on two of his illuminant screens. From the back, it looked like several different news stations in play. There was even an ad from the Daily Bugle on display. His eyes rushed back and forth between both screens, taking in as much information as possible. His brows furrowed in frustration and other times rose when something new caught his attention. He appeared to be so focused and it made me so happy that Ironman didn't have the power to fire lasers from his eyes.

He finally broke his concentration, and noticed me sitting down with my breakfast. "Are you sure you don't want steak and eggs? I can get Pepper to whip them up for you."

"Nah its fine, dad," Personally, I didn't like working Pepper harder than she needed to. She already did most of dad's paperwork, and went to almost all of his meetings while he was dealing with S.H.I.E.L.D. business. Plus, I'm fifteen for God's sake. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. "I'm good with my cereal."

He only shrugged, and grabbed his glass of tequila. "Suit yourself."

I stared at him while he sipped his drink. "Isn't it too early to start drinking?"

"It's five o' clock somewhere, kiddo," He smirked at me then turned to Pops, "and don't YOU give me that look. You know how I am without my alcohol."

"Not a drunken buffoon?" retorted pops. I nearly choked on my cereal at that.

"Look who's talking, 'Captain Lightweight'." Dad is far too good at making comebacks on the spot. I've got to remember that one for later. I'm running out of puns for criminals when I'm out on duty.

Dad went back to gazing over his screens, and popped up a third one to make room. A few more selected news articles appeared, and dad started to read one intently. As I mindlessly ate my cereal, I soon found myself inspecting the articles for my own interest. Jumping from one to the next in a matter of seconds, sudden realization creeped upon me and my stomach started doing somersaults. My head was beginning to be overrun with hundreds of questions of asking myself, _'Why would he be interested in Spider-man all of a sudden?' _

I sat up in my chair, preparing myself for discussion. It was crucial to my secret identity that I learn my father's intentions for scoping "me" out. Hoping it was just out of curiosity for the arrival of the new superhero in town, I directed my voice toward him, "What'cha looking at over there, dad?"

Without turning his head, or skewing his eye sight, he replied, "Trying to figure out how to get ahold of this Spider-man."

Well, shit. "What for," I continued, "Are you going to turn him into the police?"

"Hell no," I should have known that he wouldn't let anyone else take credit for his doings. "But, Fury is interested in him, and wants more closure on the guy. So, I'm reading up on all that I can, even though I know for a fact that newspapers and tabloids are not to be trusted, but I just want to get an outline on how this guy works. I mean, look at him!" Dad twisted one of the screens around with a video on YouTube showing Spider-man leaping across buildings at tremendous speed.

"That right there. I want to know how he does that. He jumps around with little to no effort, and there's no evidence that he's using boosters of any sort to help him out. It's his own energy." Turning the screen back to himself, he continued to marvel at the bounding superhero. "He's amazing…"

"It would be a benefit to know how he performs the way that he does," Agreed Pop. "Especially with that webbing trick he pulls."

"Oh, that's easy. All it is it's a device that shoots out artificial webbing designed to look like spider webs. Pretty clever, I must admit."

Pops then, much to my disgust, wrapped his arms around dad and leaned on him. "I'm so lucky to have such a super smart husband."

"Yes you are." Dad agreed with him before kissing him.

At that moment, I decided that I was full. "oooooooookay, I'm out! See you guys later!"

"Don't come home too soon if you want to keep what little remains of your innocence!"

"Dad!"

"Tony!"

"Oh, don't act all oblivious, Steven. You know what I'm talking about."

'_Ugh!' _I ran into the elevator before I hurled right there on the floor from all their lovey-dovey antics. Yeah, they're the best dads in the world, who wouldn't want Captain America and Ironman for parents? Though, I wish they kept the more intimate part of their relationship private. On top of that, now I have to watch out for dad prying into my crime-fighting lifestyle. God knows what would happen if he found out that I was The Spider-man. It's bad enough that I have the police on my ass all the time, but now S.H.I.E.L.D. wants a piece of me, too.

'_What a perfect way to start off the week.'_ I ran down the street to the bus stop where a few girls who I went to school with were waiting also. I stood at a distance while they were all piled into a circle having a not-so private conversation. Apparently discussing topics such as, "Which one of them would be lucky enough to catch Spidey's eye?" and "How 'hot' Tony Stark was." I snickered at that one. Surely they must know of my parents being together. Their marriage was broadcasted on live TV. I remember watching it from my foster parent's house when I was eight.

One girl is now discussing her dream of soaring though the midnight sky while clinging on to the shoulders of Spider-man, and they reach the top of the Empire State Building where they sit in 'loving silence' for all a few minutes. Then she starts to take off his mask, and when she does….. I guess I have the same face as Matt Damon. Ok. Sure, why not? She then went off rambling about making out, but I tuned out after that.

'_Note to self: Take Gwen out on a midnight date to the Empire State building one night.'_


	2. Chapter 2

"Peter Parker, you look absolutely horrid this morning!" Gwen marched right up to me, and immediately started to groom my hair which, by her standards, needed two tubs of gel. She got this scrunched up look on her face as she examined my head, and her lips moved slightly as if she was mouthing words. Her nostrils flared every time she huffed in frustration, and it made her face look much more rounded than oval shape. Honestly, it was cute as Hell.

"Don't give me that look," She reached into her bag, and pulled out a hairbrush. "You are a mess! And look at this bruise under your right eye! Aren't you even concerned about it?" After gawking at my shiner, she dug into my head once again only armed this time.

"N – ouch! Gwen, that hurts! I'm sorry, but I got "distracted" on my way to school."

"You took the bus, didn't you?" She moved behind me, and started to work on the back of my head.

"Well, I was going to but… stuff… happened."

She sighed, slowly putting herself in front of me again. "I'm sorry I yelled. I'm just so worried about you all the time. I know that you can take care of yourself just fine, it's just… I feel so useless just sitting at home, watching you on the news live, wondering if you'll come out of a fight with criminals, or even worse sometimes, alive and well!"

Pulling her into a hug, she wrapped her arms around my body, and locked her hands obviously not wanting to let go. I started rubbing her back, and kissed her head to reassure her. "Now you know why I won't tell my parents," I felt her giggling over my left shoulder. "Even though my first duty as, well, you know _who_ is to protect the people of this city to the best of my ability, that does not mean that I am ignoring my own safety. I know the risks, and I take precautions all the time. What use is a super hero who goes and gets himself killed right off the bat?"

She pulled back to stare at me, "A stupid hero."

"Nice," I added. "Also, you know that I _do _have super-healing abilities. The small bruises will be gone by afternoon. My dads won't even notice."

She suddenly got this amused look upon her face as she took her finger, and outlined the growing welt on my eye. "And, what will we be telling them of this one? I don't think they're going to fall for the 'fell down while skateboarding' excuse for the third time in a row."

She did have a point. Sadly, none of the criminals who I encountered were ever gracious enough to spare my face. I've had cut lips, broken noses, scrapes and scratches, chipped and broken teeth. I was losing them nearly as fast as good excuses to explain why I came home nearly mauled every other day. "Well…" one of these days, I swear I'm going to invent that little light bulb that you hear inside your head whenever a bright idea pops up. "Baseball during P.E. should do it." I smirked proudly seeing no flaw in my logic. At least it made Gwen lighten up some. She shook her head as if she was disappointed with my response.

"Well, it's not a total lie. We are playing baseball for this week. So, it holds up on my account!" I stuck my tongue out, as if that would validate my being right. That earned me a kiss on the cheek. Or, at least I think it did. Either way, I got it. Gwen gathered up her bag, and put her hairbrush away while turning back towards me.

"I'm going to class now." She snipped playfully and started to stride off past me, acting as though she owned the place. Who does she think she is?

"Not without me you're not!" I jumped right next to her, and took her arm in mine. She leaned against me chuckling all the way.


End file.
